Love Me Not
by JesusOtakuFreak
Summary: You know you're having a bad day when you confess your feelings to the wrong person, your house gets destroyed in an earthquake, and you somehow end up moving in with one of the three monsters of Rikkai Dai. [NiouxOC]


**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT or its characters. Everything else is mine.**

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**Chapter One: Confession Fail!**

_Okay… okay… okay…._ I thought, trudging out of the school building. _Enough is enough. Today is the day to do it. Today is _your_ day!_ I thought, my hands tightening around the cloth wrapped container.

Inside were double chocolate chip cookies I had spent all night preparing. I didn't really know what he liked, if he even liked sweets, but I figured chocolate chip cookies were a safe bet. As I walked, I looked around me and saw students chatting with their friends as they headed for home. I would be going home, too, but I had something to do, and I was determined to do it. I was determined to confess to Niou Masaharu. My stomach flipped several times over and I felt like passing out.

_Ugh, am I really going to do this? Maybe I shouldn't…._ I shook my head and tightened my grip on the container. _No, no, don't chicken out now! The worst he can do is reject you and that will be fine because then I can move on. _My grip loosened and I stopped walking, staring forlornly at the ground. _That is, if I could move on…._

"Yo, Niou!" someone shouted, startling me.

_N-Niou?!_ I thought, looking to my right where Niou Masaharu was dressed in his tennis uniform and holding a racket, speaking to someone I vaguely recognized from class. I gulped as the guy left, leaving Niou by himself. _It's now or never!_ "N-N-N-N…!" Ack! I couldn't even call out his name! This always happened. Whenever Niou was around, I would freeze up and be unable to speak. It was so embarrassing and pathetic. _But I'm going to do it this time!_ I thought, running over to Niou.

There was scarcely anyone around, which was awesome because on the large chance Niou did reject me, I didn't want there to be too many witnesses. Niou had his back turned to me as he walked at a leisurely pace to what I assumed was practice. I tried calling his name again.

"N-N-Niou-kun!"

Yes! I did it! I knew how it seemed pretty pathetic to celebrate over something so petty, but you didn't understand, to actually be able to talk while the guy was around was an incredible feat. Niou stopped walking and turned his head so that he was peering at me over his shoulder.

"Hm? What is it?" he asked.

I halted a few inches in front of him and gazed up at him. The guy was pretty tall compared to my short self. He was ten centimeters taller than me. Niou stared down at me with those sharp blue eyes of his, and I found myself feeling at peace, which was super strange.

_I'm not freezing up or feeling nauseous or tongue-tied or anything! _Inwardly, I smiled. _Okay, then, I can totally do this!_ I thrust out the container and bowed deeply. "I… I really, really, like you Niou-kun! I've liked you ever since my first year here, and I wish to be with you! Please accept these double chocolate chip cookies as tokens of my love!"

The word _love_ slipped out of my mouth so easily, and I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole. _Love?!_ I didn't _love_ him! I just really, really, _really _liked him! Why did I say that?! You idiot! Well, it was too late now. What's done was done. I just waited for Niou's response, my arms getting weary from being stretched out too long.

"I'm sorry…." Niou replied softly.

_I… I knew it,_ I thought, lowering my arms and straightening myself. I kept my head down, not wanting to see his face.

"I'm sorry but… I'm not Niou-kun."

Huh? I snapped my head up and stared wide-eyed at the boy, who stared back, an apologetic smile on his face. _What? Not Niou-kun?! But, but, but he—!_ I inhaled sharply when Niou removed his silver-gray hair, revealing…. "Y-Yagyu-san?!" _No way! You've got to be kidding me!_ I thought, not helping but gawking at Rikkai's Gentleman.

"I do apologize," Yagyu said, bowing slightly. "If you want, I could direct you to where Niou-kun is—?"

"N-no! T-that's okay!" I declined, waving dismissively while walking backwards. "I'm… I'm…." I didn't even bother finishing my sentence, whirling around and sprinting away. _I can't believe I did that! How could I have been so careless, so _stupid_?! I should have known something was up when I didn't freeze up. I always freeze up around Niou. It never failed._ I didn't realize that I had ran a good twenty minutes before my body was screaming for mercy. I trudged the rest of the way home, tossing my cookies into the trash bin. Now, there was definitely no way I could confess to Niou, now. "Oh, this is so messed up! What was that guy doing dressed up as Niou-kun, anyway?!" I shouted. It took a while, but I finally made it home. "I'm home!" I called out, entering the house.

Mom emerged from the kitchen, wearing a blue apron over a pale green blouse and jeans. She was a thirty-three year old woman, though one might think she was in her late thirties because of her smooth, pale skin and youthful facial features, such as her wide brown eyes that clearly expressed her emotions, her petite nose and wide, pink lips. Her short, black hair stopped just below her chin and framed her oval-shaped face perfectly.

"Welcome!" Mom greeted, smiling warmly. "How was school?"

I couldn't hold it any longer.

I burst out crying, startling Mom and rushed to her, embracing her in a huge hug. "It was terrible!"

"Oh? What happened?" Mom asked. I buried my head into Mom's chest and replied, my response muffled. "I'm sorry? What happened?" Mom asked, gently pulling away and staring at me with her kind brown eyes.

"I confessed my feelings to the wrong guy," I mumbled.

"You confessed your feelings…?"

"To the wrong guy."

"How did that happen?"

I told her, and she snorted. "You're laughing at me?! This isn't funny! Now, I can never confess to Niou-kun!"

"Yes, yes, I can see how that will be a problem, but I think you're allowed to try again."

"No, no way! There is no way I'm doing it again. The fact that I confessed to Yagyu instead of Niou shows that I'm not serious about my feelings! If I _really_ liked him, I would have had no trouble in distinguishing between the real and fake," I said.

"Yes, that's very true," Mom agreed, nodding. "If you had been able to tell the difference that probably would have won you some points. But, instead, you fell prey, just like everyone else, to their trick." Mom frowned disapprovingly. "Honestly, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like this Niou guy is troublesome. Why would you want to be with someone who fools and cons people on a daily basis?"

"Because there's more to Niou-kun than that!"

"Don't tell me he's one of those people who takes on others' appearances and gets people to believe what he wants, but his true character is a mystery, and he keeps people guessing."

"…."

"How cliché. Also, very troublesome," Mom remarked.

"M-Mom! Geez, is this how you cheer a person up? You're terrible at these things!" I stated, marching over to the stairs.

"I'm sorry, dear, but still, I'd stay away from guys like that. They're nothing but trouble!" Mom called up to me.


End file.
